5 Reasons You Should Try EMDR Therapy
EMDR, also known as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, is a revolutionary trauma-focused therapy designed to help people gain freedom from their traumatic experiences that have come to define how they approach life. Don’t get tripped up by the word trauma—trauma can be big events that we typically think of (e.g., bad car accidents, war combat, or sexual abuse), or less dramatic events that can impact us just as much (e.g. dysfunctional family dynamics, hurtful childhood experiences, or job loss).
Trauma is anything that your nervous system experiences as too much too soon, or too little for too long—when things are overwhelming. These experiences are then stored maladaptively in your body and brain, causing trouble. Everyone experiences trauma in some form and is impacted by their past, whether they’re aware of it or not. Here’s some reasons why you might consider trying this form of therapy for yourself.
1. You want freedom from your difficult past experiences
Many of us are triggered (again, whether we’re fully aware of it or not), by our past experiences in daily life. EMDR allows your body to fully process and re-digest the traumatic experience. The memory literally moves locations in your brain: from raw emotional memory storage to long term memory storage where it belongs. When this happens, your brain understands that the past is truly in the past, instead of experiencing it as a present reality (the feeling of being triggered).
2. You are sick of the same old patterns repeating in your life
Traumatic experiences create reactions in the brain that build templates for how we will act in the future. EMDR Therapy is designed to allow you to let go of those past experiences and create templates for better functioning in the future.
3. You find it hard to talk about (or remember!) your traumatic experiences
One of the coolest things about EMDR is that it doesn’t require you to go into detail about what has happened to you. It’s not necessary for your therapist to know all the nitty gritty details. You can keep those to yourself if you want, and the work can still be just as effective. This is also relevant for those whose memories around their trauma might be hazy. EMDR works with how the brain naturally stores traumatic memories, which involves body sensations, emotions, negative beliefs, and sensory experiences, not just autobiographical movie clip-type memory playback.
4. You want a natural approach to healing
Many clients come to us because of our focus on holistic, natural methods to healing. EMDR is as natural as you can get. EMDR therapists simply make the conditions right for your brain to be able to heal itself. This is why healing from EMDR is so deep and transformative. The body is able to work out the trauma, and the insights and new perspectives you’ll get are coming from your own mind—not the therapist’s.
5. You’ve tried talk therapy and it isn’t cutting it
EMDR is very efficient and powerful. Every 1 year of EMDR Therapy is about equivalent to 3 years of traditional talk therapy. I often get reports of how much EMDR has changed someone’s life in just a few weeks, after doing years and years of regular talk therapy elsewhere. EMDR is designed to get to the very root of your problems, instead of addressing symptoms of those problems. This ends up being more cost efficient, too, which is always a good thing.
Check out our page on EMDR for more information.
By Mary Beth Stevens, M.Ed., LPC, BCN